Letter: New gambling machines not random

In its coverage of the opening of the casino at Aqueduct ["And they're off!" News, Oct. 29], Newsday forgets to point out a very real fact about video lottery terminals in New York State. Unlike Atlantic City or Connecticut, the so-called slots and video poker machines are not random. They are controlled by a central computer that determines precisely which combinations and hands each machine will deliver on a particular day.

The video poker machines and so-called slot machines work much like the New York Lottery scratch-off cards. Say the state has issued a new scratch-off game that has a top prize of $1 million, and the state has determined that out of the millions of cards issued, only two will be winners. For argument's sake, let's say that those two cards are in Albany and Buffalo. No matter how many cards you might buy in Queens, you will not hit the jackpot.

So if you are playing the Aqueduct "slots," and the computer has determined that there will not be a top prize handed out on that machine on the day you are playing, then no matter how much money you put in, you will not be a jackpot winner. Let the players beware!

Lawrence Feldman, Great Neck